Professor Atkinson’s research is broad in scope but directed at identifying a prevention and/or cure for Type 1 (i.e., insulin-dependent, juvenile) diabetes. The key to achieving this goal is an improved understanding of the interactions between environmental, immunologic, and genetic factors that underlie the inability to form immunological tolerance to the insulin secreting pancreatic beta cells. To achieve this goal, our laboratory seeks to directly define methods (e.g., immunointervention with self-antigens, gene therapy) for disease prevention in non-diabetic subjects identified to be at increased risk for the disease or diabetic subjects through pancreatic transplantation in association with novel forms of immunotherapy.

*Atkinson, M.A.; and Ellis, T.M.: Infant Diets and Insulin Dependent Diabetes: Evaluating the �Cows Milk Hypothesis� and a Role for anti-Bovine Serum Albumin Immunity. Journal of the American College of Nutrition 16 , 1997, pp. 334-340.